Magical sports meet classic RPG tropes in gorgeous 'Pyre'

It’s hard to stand out on the PAX East show floor. There are booths as far as the eye can see, TV screens displaying a range of video games from AAA titles to the tiniest indies, tabletop gaming sessions left and right and cosplayers stopping every few feet to take photos. Despite all this, Supergiant’s booth had a crowd all weekend, with a long line of people willing to wait an hour or more to get their hands on Pyre.

When Supergiant announced its third game just days before PAX East 2016, Pyre garnered immediate attention. The studio previously was praised for the beautifully designed role playing games Bastion and Transistor, and from the outset Pyre looked set to continue that tradition. Yes, Pyre certainly is pretty, and its action-RPG elements and story are worth your attention, but it’s the unusual fighting system that really makes it memorable in a sea of excellent PAX games.

You start the demo clinging to life in the middle of the desert. Three masked wanderers come to your rescue, nursing you back to health. It turns out they’re not acting out of the goodness of their hearts — they want something in return. In a world where literacy is a crime, you’re a Reader, and you can help these exiles gain their freedom by interpreting an ancient tomb.

 Of course, it’s not quite as easy as it sounds — the group needs to win a series of Rites, an ancient competition that grants the winners freedom from their purgatory-like state. Thus the group begins its journey, letting the stars be their guide as they travel by covered wagon.

The Rites themselves serve as the game’s combat system, but it’s a system unlike any other. Instead of weapons and hit points, each Rite is more akin to a sporting event, a soccer/basketball hybrid with lots of magic involved. As the Reader, you control your three exiled friends in battle as they challenge other teams. You’ll score by moving glowing orb to the opposite team’s pyre. When not controlling the orb, exiles can use their own auras to attack others, taking them out of commission for a short time. You can only control one member of your team at a time, though you can switch between them -- a key element of the game’s strategy. It’s strange and unexpected, and yet it completely works within the context of the game. It’s refreshing to see something so different in such a familiar genre.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

When not getting your sportsball on, there’s plenty to do between Rites. You’ll have a few days between each competition, from the looks of the demo. Traveling takes up time, as does gathering supplies. You can mentor your friends to raise their skills in battle, study to enhance your own deciphering power or just spend some time getting to know the mysterious masked exiles a little better.

Pyre is just absolutely gorgeous. It’s incredibly atmospheric and the artwork is stunning. That alone makes it worth taking a look, but it’s the gameplay that had me most excited. It doesn’t come out until 2017, which is a long time to wait for Supergiant’s next adventure, but for a game that was only just announced, Pyre is already looking good. 

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